Wrath of Hel
by Anastasia T Wolfe
Summary: A Latvarian base in the Isolated Mountains is destroyed by an experimental Bifrost, Bella and Hawkeye inside. Thanos is gearing up for the total annihilation of the Earth because they are more trouble than they are worth. Loki is broken. What they don't know is that Hawk and Bella have been transported across the galaxy and have their own problems, big, purple and hairy problems.
1. Chapter 1

(Disclaimer: this story says that it's a crossover between Guardians of the Galaxy and the Avengers, but it contains references to other characters that are important to the story, ie, Doctor Doom, Sinthea Shmitt and references to Eric, Jane and Darcy. These references and characters are essential to the story background, so don't flame me. Also, in this story, there will be some references to torture. if you don't like it, don't read it).

LATVARIA- 7/3/14, OPERATION DOOM.

0026 HOURS.

She jammed another magazine into her assault rifle and gritted her teeth as she pulled the trigger. She crouch-ran forward to another concrete pylon as her last one exploded in a puff of dust. She coughed for a second as the ceiling lurched. She grabbed a grenade out of her combat webbing and tore the pin out with her teeth, "cover me Hawk!"

"On it, Speedy."

She tossed the grenade and dashed back across the hall. A line of bullets forced her to the ground, but she continued moving in an impressive slide. She knelt by Hawkeye with her rifle at the ready. She checked her magazine; she was almost out of ammo, again.

"I'll kill you, Stark."

"Get in line, birdbrain."

"You take his left, I'll take his right," Hawkeye narrowed his eyes as he quick fired another three arrows.

"Stab him until he's mushy and dead."

"Good plan."

The reason why they wanted to kill Tony Stark because he had sent them into a firefight with the Bat Utility Bow with matching pleather quiver and a plastic army gun that jammed every three hundred or so rounds. Bella smacked the gun against the pylon as she knelt down. The damn thing was jammed again. Sometimes having the newest equipment really sucked, nobody ever conquered the world using a beta version.

"I could be home," Bella hissed as she aimed the rifle again and squeezed the trigger, firing at the troops, "I could be home, I could be snuggled up with my husband, watching a bad horror movie."

Hawkeye growled and narrowed his eyes as he loosed a few arrows, "I need to fix the tractor."

Bella reloaded as quickly as possible, "Oh, Deere."

"Funny," he shot at her, "how can you joke at a time like this?"

She gritted her teeth as she fired the rifle, "I only stop joking long enough to jest," She hissed, "that's how I stay sane."

Hawkeye sighed at her remark, "can we go?"

LATVARIA- 0028

Three or four months ago, Jane's lab had been broken into, nothing had been taken, but the window had been forced. Considering that this was a twenty fourth story floor, something was definitely hinkey. The Avengers and what was left of SHIELD were both investigating, granted, one in a far more clandestine way.

The Avengers, while working as a small team, had hired a whole organization of analysts and highly trained soldiers to support them and to do the jobs that the Avengers couldn't do because they were too visible. And besides, they had to obey international law, and Latvaria was a really nasty place to break the law. That was where the information ended up, Latvaria, the land of the iron-clad dictator, Doom, and jagged, black mountains reaching into the sky. And they weren't fans of the Avengers, or Americans for that matter.

That was why Hawkeye and Bella were sent in here. Out of all the Avengers, he was the least well known, and wasn't half bad at disguises. Bella, on the other hand was a disaffected Marine, former SHIELD, fired from her job because of an egomaniacal and possibly psychotic boss, leaving her with a kid and a crazy ex and a dwindling cash supply. Unless they were captured and tortured, neither Hydra nor Doom would know the truth, and if that happened, then the Avengers as well as the American government could claim plausible deniability.

In this compound, captured intelligence said, Hydra and Doom were building a Bifrost prototype, a beta version of the rainbow bridge. It was their job to get in, blow the Bifrost and all related research so they would have to start again. The mission was supposed to be covert, owing to the deactivation of electronic and human security systems as quietly as possible, but the codes that Tony had given them for the security system was wrong, and the alarm system was tripped, leading to a full scale firefight.

They were going to stab Tony as soon as they got back, that was, if they got back.

LATVARIA, 0031 HOURS

Doom faced off with the Hydra commander, a young redhead woman with an evil though clever face and a large gun in her hands. She was scarred down the left side of her face, she had been burned, the skin around her left eye bubbly. She didn't care about the scars, she didn't care that the Bifrost generator was building behind her.

"Stop there," she ordered him, "I am not afraid to kill you, Doom."

"Ah, Sinthea," Doom said, showing no hint of fear behind his iron mask. He walked around her, dark green cape flapping as he walked. Sinthea didn't move a muscle, but her eyes followed him as he walked around her with an air of superiority.

"Sinthea Shmitt," she could almost hear Doom smiling, "I should have expected that you would double cross me. Fortunately I did."

"Clever," Sinthea said. Her slight German accent was a little more pronounced now, "If you wish to gloat, please find someone that is impressed by your limited intellect."

"How dare you, woman."

"Do not forget who I am," Sinthea Shmitt narrowed her eyes.

The Bifrost was building. She never took her eyes off Doom.

"This device is mine, Shmitt!"

As the gunfire from the two sides reached the Bifrost chamber, Sinthea looked to the side, "the Avengers are here," she hissed, and pointed the gun away from Doom, straight up into the Bifrost generator.

"No!"

She fired.

The Latvarian night sky was lit up by incredible rainbow light. From this far north it was very likely to see the aurora borealis, but it was the wrong time of year, and the light was far too intense. The compound in the mountains was filled with rubble as it collapsed into dust. No one heard the isolated mountain fall, and no one would know that this was not a natural event.


	2. Chapter 2

7/1/14- WASHINGTON DC

"Don't even attempt to cook while I'm gone, Loki," Bella said to him flatly, "I want to come back to a home after the mission."

"Ha," Loki rolled his eyes, "I wish I still had servants."

"Tough luck," she said, packing up her duffel bag on the bed. She threw in a change of clothes and a few gizmos and weapons that she had kept from SHIELD and one funny looking gun that Loki had given her for her birthday made of broken weapons from the SHIELD weapons vault.

"Why do you have to go so far away?" Loki sat down on the end of the bed and watched her pack her bag, "I thought Anthony had only employed you as a consultant."

"Apparently he needs my expertise," Bella shrugged, "can't imagine why, unless he wants me to blow something up. Latvaria is a dictatorship, so anything's possible."

"It will be dangerous."

"Loki, being married to you is dangerous," her eyes caught his and pierced right through him, "I'm literally waiting for Asgard to fall on me. This, on the other hand, is gonna be a cakewalk."

"I do not see how walking on cake is any way relevant to this discussion," he said simply.

Bella shook her head, "I'll be fine," she insisted, "I have Avengers air support, and the Bird will be with me on the ground."

"You know as well as I that Hawkeye is the most useless of the Avengers."

She smiled, "do I detect a hint of jealousy, my little ice cube?"

"No."

She sat down next to him, "I can tell when you're lying," she looked into his eyes for a moment, "relax, even if I liked Hawk, he's spoken for, and so am I."

Loki sighed, but otherwise smiled at her, "I'll miss you."

"I'll only be gone forty eight hours."

"That doesn't matter."

They shared a kiss before she left for New York on route to Latvaria.

0800- 7/2/14- WASHINGTON DC

It was lucky it was school time, and that Sophia was staying with a friend for a few days. At least he didn't have to worry as much about his workload or poisoning her with his terrible cooking.

He typed slowly with two fingers as he glared intently at the LCD screen before him, researching and typing up a report on one of the Hydra's many heads.

Someone put a glass of coffee on his desk and he looked up from his computer screen with a tired and indignant look in his eyes for he had been working far too long. "I hope that's decaf," he looked up at Coulson.

"Why would I give you caffeine? You're explosive enough," he shrugged, "what have you got on Sin?"

Loki sighed, "Not much, I am afraid," he sipped the coffee out of the mug almost delicately. It was monogrammed with the SHIELD eagle; he had found several of them when he had cleaned out the former junk room, currently his office.

"What do you know?"

"Snakes don't wear bras and eggs don't bounce," Loki replied simply, Coulson cocked his head, clearly not amused, "Sin's German, in the snippets of her voice that I have listened to, I can say that she is likely an East German, perhaps a Berlinner."

"Doughnut?"

"You know what I mean," he snapped, but then he enlarged a picture on his computer screen and turned it around. It was a CCTV picture of the woman escaping from a crime scene in Prague. In this crime, a highly advanced artifact had been taken from a private collection, and this was the only picture of the perpetrator, with a duffel bag under her arm and red hair tied in a tight bun on top of her head. Her face was not visible.

"Is that it?" Coulson asked, "Can you zoom in or something?"

"You know I have trouble operating this infernal machine," Loki bit back; "I may as well be wearing boxing gloves," Coulson smiled at him, "you're imagining that, aren't you?"

"Control plus," he said flatly.

He pressed the two buttons and the picture zoomed in, "oh, right."

"Anything else?"

"I won't know anything about the crime itself unless I can have access to the crime scene investigation files, or examine the crime scene myself," he sighed into his coffee, "it is a red end."

"Dead end," Coulson corrected him, "that doesn't matter. I need you on another mission," he leaned over Loki's shoulder for a moment and pulled up another screen.

"What is it?"

"We don't know," he told Loki, "all we know is that it's big, it's fast, and it just passed Ioh."

"And you want me to figure out what it is?"

"That and how to stop it if it is hostile."

Loki sipped his coffee, "I am on top of it."

He sighed, "I'm not even going to bother correcting you."


	3. Chapter 3

WASHINGTON, 7/3/14- 0330 HOURS, EASTERN TIME

The sound of his phone jarred him from his dreamless slumber, the first time he had slept without being plagued by nightmares for almost a month now. The ACDC riff played through his head a moment longer as he buried his head in his pillow, trying to block out the annoying crackle of the speakers as they played the tinny guitar and drums. He gritted his teeth and buried his face in the covers as his ears were screaming about the sudden noise.

After a few moments, the infuriating ring stopped, only to start up again. He grabbed the phone off the dressing table and glanced at the caller ID for a second before he answered, "What in the name of the Gods do you want?"

 _"Loki, we need you to come in."_

"In case you have not noticed, Captain Righteous, I do not work for you," Loki sneered, "You better have a good reason for calling me, or so help me, I will give you the swift kick in the face that I owe you."

 _"This is important, and I would rather tell you in person,"_ Steve Rodgers continued. As Loki awoke a bit more, he could tell that Stephen was talking in a rather somber way, and was attempting to skirt a particular subject that he was not looking forward to talking about.

Loki pulled himself out of bed, slipped his feet into the large, novelty Hulk slippers that Tony had given him and began to walk around impatiently, "If you have something to tell me, Stephen, I wish you would just tell me."

Steve gulped. There was a crackle as the phone changed hands.

 _"Hey,"_ It was Natasha, _"I have some bad news."_

Loki's heart skipped a beat, "Bella?"

 _"The Hydra base that she and Barton infiltrated was destroyed,"_ she said almost heartlessly, _"there were no survivors."_

Loki was silent for a long time. He felt dizzy; he had to sit on the end of his bed, "what?" he asked in a tiny voice.

 _"I'm very sorry, Loki."_ Natasha said, _"Bella's gone."_

0335 HOURS

He woke Sophia from her sleep. He almost didn't do it. She looked so peaceful, so calm. It seemed sacrilege to wake her from pleasant dreams to this nightmare, but even more abhorrent to him to lie to her, even for the sake of protecting her. He owed her the truth.

She rolled over, "ten more minutes, Mom. I'll be ready later."

"Soph," he shook her shoulder again, "I need to talk to you, now."

"Fine," she pulled herself out of bed and sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, "what's wrong, Loki? You look like you've seen a ghost"

He gulped before speaking, "there's been a problem on your mother's mission," he started, biting his lip.

She sensed his thoughts, "Mom's-." she started.

"She's gone, Honey."

It took a moment for it to sink in, and she began to cry. Loki held his stepdaughter close, and he held back his own tears. He had to be strong for her.

"I'll talk to the school tomorrow, get things sorted out for you to stay home for a few days," he told her as calmly as possible, "and I will be here for you."

7/4/14 0830

"Sophia will not attend school for one week from today," Loki told the receptionist at the school, "I am her stepfather, young woman. May I speak to the principal?" After another moment of incessant chattering he spoke again, "do you know who I am? I want to speak to the principal _now._ "

He looked back at Sophia from the hall as she sat alone on the sofa with a book on her lap that was upside down and unopened, and he felt even worse. She looked haggard and tired, and completely destroyed, everything that he felt.

"Good morning principal Jackson," Loki said, "I am calling to inform you that Sophia will not be attending school for the next week, starting today, "because there has been a family crisis, that is why," he slowly got angrier, "what do you mean I am not authorized to pull her out of school? I am her stepfather for Christ's sake!" his hands tightened on the phone, "I am the Wizard of New York, my good man, which makes me the one person on this planet that can eviscerate you without leaving a mark. Yes, I suppose I am threatening you. That is fine. Thank you principal." He hung up and joined his stepdaughter.

He sat next to her wordlessly, and Sophia turned to lean on his shoulder, and hug him. He bit his lip, and somehow he kept himself from crying.

"What happened?" Sophia whispered to him suddenly.

"The details are sketchy," Loki said, "but your mom went to this Hydra base, and it was destroyed."

"Why?" Sophia asked him.

"I don't know," he sounded pathetic, even to himself, and a stray tear escaped his eye and dribbled down his face, "but this afternoon, we will go to see Anthony and we will find out."


	4. Chapter 4

NEW YORK- 1245 HOURS

"I will give you one last chance, Stark," Loki sneered, "you will tell me all you know of the mission." He kept his face completely straight and breathed deeply to calm himself down. This technique had been taught to him by a rather surly colleague as a way to calm himself in the absence of anti-psychotics. It barely worked.

Tony offered him the whiskey one more time and Loki ignored it, "it's an active Avengers mission, I can't tell you even if I wanted to." Agent Hill kept a close eye on him from her post halfway across the room, dangerously close to the Panic button. He kept an eye on her too on the basis that bullets hurt.

"And you don't want," he screwed up his face.

"Bingo."

The snide remark and twisted smirk made Loki seethe, "you will give me answers even if I have to beat them out of you."

"Are you threatening me, Lokes?" Tony slapped his shoulder and walked away back towards the elevator in his lab. Loki took a glance towards the floor to ceiling plate glass window of his lab.

"Threatening is such a vulgar word. I prefer intimidating."

"You don't scare me and you never have," Tony met his icy gaze without so much as flinching, "and you know I can't tell you anything." He took a sip.

He gritted his teeth, choosing to take a slightly different approach, "I have security clearance."

"A SHIELD security clearance," Tony quipped, "SHIELD, you know, that terrorist organization? I don't answer to you."

"Does that mean your pet over there does not have privy to your operations?" Loki sneered, "for I know that she has never stopped being Fury's lapdog."

"Don't push it, Pal."

"How would you like to be beaten to death with your own arms?" Loki grabbed Tony by the collar, and Hill jumped for the security switch. He outstretched his free hand and the security button froze over. "I need answers," Loki sneered, a mad yet dewy look in his eyes, "I have to know why. Tell me!"

"B was my friend too, Loki."

"Friend?" Loki hissed, "Friend?" this time he was louder, "she was hardly your friend, Anthony. She was merely your experiment! To you she was an experiment- and- and a marketing tool for your cybernetics program," tears began to develop in the corners of his eyes, "you call me the monster, the terrorist-," he sniffed, his face reddening, "It's you, Antony," Loki's grip tightened around his neck, "you can no longer count me as a friend, Anthony." he prepared to throw Tony, well aware that Maria Hill had a gun pointed directly at his back, and he didn't care, "prepare to die."

"I can't tell you anything because I don't know," Tony shouted, "nobody knows. International law's forced us out of Latvaria. We don't know what blew up, and we don't know what was being developed in there."

Loki stared at Tony for a moment before placing him back on his feet, "was that so difficult to say?" he backed away a few steps, well aware that the pistol was still trained on him. He disappeared in a haze of green.

"Damn," Tony said, rubbing his neck.

Hill smiled humorlessly, "how would you feel if Pepper was killed because of a decision he made?"

"Fair point."

WASHINGTON DC- 2002 HOURS

The rain fell around him as he sat alone on the park bench. Washington rarely had perfect days, but this day perfectly matched his mood, dark, dank and cold. He had settled Sophia to sleep early; she was both exhausted and trying to avoid Loki's cooking, and he sat outside the townhouse on the bench, watching the cars go past, the hazy streetlamp light shining off the water that splashed upward from the tires of the traffic.

"You're going to catch a cold," somebody came and sat with him. Loki didn't even look up. He knew exactly who it was, and at this point, he was finding difficulty in caring about anything.

"Go away," Loki said simply.

"Hill told me that you tried to kill Stark."

"He deserved it."

"I have no doubt."

"I was upset," Loki said, "and I want answers. I have been lied to all my life, all I want is the truth," he sighed, "I would turn to drink, but there is not enough alcohol on this planet to allow me to forget, even for a little while."

"And so you make threatening to kill people your favorite pastime?"

"I don't like baseball," He sighed, the puff of air turning to steam in the crisp air, his sigh turned into a choked sob, "what do I do, Phil?"

"Sophie needs you," Phil said, "her mom's gone, and her dad's a real ass. You're all she has."

"I know," he said, "I know I have to be strong for her. Weakness is not to be tolerated."

"I'd like to get my hands on whoever beat that into you," Coulson grimaced.

"It would take you the rest of your life," Loki smiled humorlessly, "but I am weak. How can Sophia recover when I am an emotional cripple?"

"Kids are strong," Coulson said simply, "you'd be surprised with what they can deal with."

Loki smiled wryly. He knew exactly what Coulson meant by that, and he didn't pry, instead he changed the subject, "can you find out what that Hydra base was being used for?"

"My team's on it," Coulson said, "but Hydra's system is a virtual Fort Knox. Skye might not be able to get in."

Loki nodded, "Skye can do it."

Coulson smiled kindly, "OK, let's get out of the rain, and I'll make you some coffee."


	5. Chapter 5

SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW

She awoke with Hawkeye standing over her, poking her face with the edge of his bow, "C'mon, B, get up already."

She began to pull herself up from the dirt. She could see the stars, but they weren't the same as the ones that she had seen from Latvartia, she had the sneaking suspicion that they were on another planet.

"What happened?" she went to lift her left arm to her forehead, but then saw that the high quality titanium alloy was cracked and broken in places, her forearm crushed like a tin can. Her leg was a bit dented too, but it worked. Her other leg, however was bleeding, something was lodged into it, and she pulled at it and ripped it out. It was a part of her forearm.

"You sorta landed on it," Hawkeye whispered, kneeling behind a rock, "get up and take a look at this, Bella."

Bella dragged herself up on her good arm and pulled herself over to Hawkeye, "what happened, Barton?"

"That redhead must have overloaded the beta-frost," Barton answered, "as for where we are, only God knows."

"You're religious?"

"No," Hawkeye helped her up against the rocky ledge, and they both looked down the outcrop at the scene below, "you ever saw those guys before?"

It was clearly some people on patrol, tall and blue, but they didn't look like Jotuns, and besides, the rest of the nine realms were off limits to the frost giants due to being hated through the universe. She knew of several more blue aliens, but she had never seen any of them. The ones that they were watching now numbered four, and they had similar uniforms, yet they had all altered the uniforms in odd ways. They were speaking in a language she didn't understand.

"Nope," Bella whispered back.

"Look at their uniforms," Hawkeye had noted the same thing as her, "they're probably mercenaries. They probably were attracted here by the light that dropped us off, seeing if there's any wreckage or survivors they can use."

"Fantastic," Bella hissed, "Let's move."

"You're arms busted."

"My leg's not," she hissed, "not quite. If you'll help me here."

Hawkeye let her drape her broken metal arm around him and she held her pistol in her good hand. Hawkeye pulled her back from the edge and they moved together away from the group.

Unfortunately it wasn't long before they were spotted, and Hawkeye quickly dropped her to fend for herself. He got to cover and she dropped flat as the other guys began to shoot at them with what could only be described as a ray gun.

"Don't you shoot that green shit at me!" she blasted away with her pistol, emptying a whole clip into one of the blue guys. It knocked him back for a moment, but he barely stumbled, "crap."

Hawkeye was painfully low on arrows, and as the blue guys charged up the ridge with all guns blazing, he grabbed his last arrow and went on the offensive. As the first one charged up to eye level, Hawkeye pulled some ninja crap out on him, grabbing his hand and twisting it behind his back, jamming the arrow into the side of his neck. Bella shot that guy three times and they were finally down to three as Hawkeye threw the guy back down the ridge.

They were still outnumbered, and the ammo was out.

More ray gun fire came from nowhere, and Bella turned with her gun raised, but they weren't shooting at them, they were shooting at the mercenaries. There were two people, or rather people-like things, a green skinned woman, and someone dressed in red leather and what looked like a high tech gas-mask. One other guy fell, and the others did a double take and decided that it was time to go.

"Bel?" Hawkeye looked around at her as two survivors got away, "sitrep?"

"I think we've been rescued," she said simply, "or arrested. I don't know yet."

The guy in leather reached up and touched the side of his head, and the gas-mask sprung back. The woman holstered her ray gun as Hawkeye lowered his last arrow and Bella glanced down the sight of her pistol, with one bullet.

The stranger looked at their weaponry and cocked his head, "Tourists?"


	6. Chapter 6

Bella sat rigidly in what appeared to be the cargo bay of the spaceship, carefully observing and cataloging her surroundings as Hawkeye sat by her cleaning his bow. Hawkeye had collected the few arrows that he had loosed on the plain and was now cleaning them up and putting them back into his quiver. He only had six arrows, and barely any Bat Utility arrowheads left. They both kept a close eye on the stranger as he entered the room again. She glanced around the corner and noticed a tall man, clearly alien, standing by the door. He and the stranger discussed something for a moment before the stranger entered, probably to find out what they were doing in this neck of the woods.

"You're lucky we found you," He told them told them, "A lot of these mercenaries eat their prisoners."

"I may be lean meat," Hawkeye smiled crookedly, "but I'm sure she'd probably give them food poisoning."

Bella glanced at Hawkeye, and gave him a glance that would chew the shine off a tank. Hawkeye wasn't bothered in the slightest.

"I guess they followed your energy signature to see if there's anything to steal. I'm Starlord, by the way," he said with a cheesy grin.

Hawkeye cocked his head, "are you the five-0?"

"Do I look like McGarrett to you?" he replied, "No, I'm Starlord, captain of the Milano and leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy."

"Pretentious much?" Hawkeye shrugged, "I don't know a Starlord, do you, B?

Bella shrugged.

Quill chose to ignore the slap to his ego and changed the subject, mentioning to Bella, "does she say anything or is she just there for show?"

"Her husband does enough talking for the both of them," Hawkeye said simply, "she doesn't trust you, and despite the impressive length of your rank, neither do I."

Peter wasn't fazed, "I scanned you when you came in," he looked at Hawkeye, "you're human," then he looked at Bella, "you're not."

Bella and Hawkeye exchanged glances.

"I thought there was something wrong with you."

"Who are you?" Peter Quill asked again.

Hawkeye glanced at Bella for her confirmation, "Hawkeye."

"Who?"

"Barton, Earth, Avengers," Hawkeye said with a sigh, "you missed a lot of stuff while Star Trek-ing."

"You think you're funny, don't you?"

"Funny? I think I'm adorable," Barton grinned.

"Rodriguez, Isabella," she narrowed her eyes, "Gunnery sergeant, Marine Corps 49969872." In the Corps, she had that drummed into her, when captured; only state your name, rank and service number, nothing more.

Quill pulled a face, "say again?"

"Rodriguez, Isabella. Gunnery sergeant Marine Corps, 49969872," she repeated her rehearsed statement yet again.

Peter Quill looked at her almost as though she had dribbled on her shirt, "you're kidding."

"She'd never kid about something like that," Barton said in a salty tone, "Frosties are forever."

Bella arched an eyebrow, choosing to ignore Hawkeye's snide remark, "you've heard of _me_?"

"Lady Isabella Rodriguez of Detroit, pride of the second prince of Asgard, jewel of the Nine Realms and warrior princess of Midgard," Peter arched an eyebrow, "everybody's heard of you, especially the way those Jotuns talk."

"Is that your official title?" Hawkeye asked.

"Well, fuck me."

"That's not a very good name for a princess," Barton said stiffly, "besides, Detroit must have split to reduce their collective debt. They're a realm now; I wonder how that's working for them."

Peter arched an eyebrow, "I'll be back. Don't go anywhere."

Hawkeye took a glance at their guard, tall, broad and infinitely nasty, "Tiny's incentive enough; thanks."


	7. Chapter 7

"It's like they don't trust me," Peter paced on the bridge of his ship as Gamora sat stoically sharpening her sword with the whetstone in her hand.

She looked up at Peter with a piercing glare that she usually reserved for her enemies, "I can't imagine why," she said flatly.

"I can understand the princess, but Hawkeye? After all, I am a guy's guy."

"Perhaps he doesn't enjoy that sort of thing," Gamora arched an eyebrow.

Peter pursed his lips sourly, "and you think I do?"

Gamora smiled. She never looked up from her work, and swiped her thumb across the blade. Peter pulled a face.

"How can you tell when it's sharp enough?" he changed the subject quickly, and Gamora looked up at him, her expression never changed.

"It draws blood," Gamora said flatly.

"You and the Lady will probably get along," he shrugged, "but why is she out here instead of being a high roller on Asgard?"

She looked back at her work and continued to sharpen her sword, "Loki is a political dissenter and criminal on Asgard," she said, "the Royals may have welcomed him back into the fold, but only because he managed to save the universe against all odds."

"When was this?"

"You don't pay any attention to the Tertabursts, do you?"

Peter sat down next to her, "what should we do about them? I'm sure we can fetch a good price for them."

"How very righteous of you," she scraped her thumb against the blade again.

"What do we do about them then, in your opinion?"

She looked back up, "the Avengers will never pay, and if Loki finds out she is our captive, he will tear us apart."

"So?"

"I think we should take them home," Gamora answered.

"Are you feeling alright?"

The blade drew blood and she wiped her thumb on a towel by her side, "I know of the Avengers. Thanos used Loki to attack the Earth to get control of the Tesseract. Six Avengers destroyed the entire Chitauri army," the corners of her mouth twisted downward, "with the Avengers and Loki against us, we can't beat them."

"Fine," he spat the word like a child.

"I am Groot."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm about to tell 'em, Groot," Peter spun in his seat to face Rocket, "we've caught wind of some new intel you should know about," he said, "Thanos is on the move."

"Gamora will track him from here."

"I will?" she asked, "I will."

"I have something else I need you to do, Rocket."

A figure short in stature entered next, dressed in a small vest and pants with tools and weapons hanging off his tiny form. He was furry with cute little ears and a bushy tail and Bella smiled at the small figure, mostly because she was unsure of what else she could do. Another larger figure closely behind, tall and gangly, and looked at them with big, curious eyes, and gave them a dazzling smile.

"Where's the party?"

Hawkeye nudged her, "He's a raccoon," Hawkeye said to her with wide eyes.

Bella narrowed her eyes and scowled, "Congratulations, you have mastered the art of recognizing simple shapes. You truly have the eyes of the Hawk."

"He's a raccoon," Hawkeye ignored her snide remark.

Bella rolled her eyes and sighed, "I gathered."

"I'm right here you know."

"Bella," he looked at her, "he's a raccoon."

"I am Groot."

Bella narrowed her eyes, "I thought you'd be more worried about the ten foot tall tree dude, but I could be wrong," she shrugged.

The raccoon grinned at her, "I guess by your superior smarts, you must be the Lady Isabella?"

"You're a raccoon," she said, "but I support your life choice."

"I am Groot."

"I'm not xenophobic, I married an alien." Bella shrugged. Hawkeye let out a loud sigh and went back to cleaning his bow as he had done for over an hour, "what's Quill's problem? Repeated questioning to trip me up, what's that about?"

He laughed slightly, "He's always like that. Name's Rocket." he approached her and she extended her metal arm out to him and he examined it closely, "Impressive tech for secondary life forms."

"Secondary life forms?" Hawkeye snapped.

"Older planets mean older life forms, try to keep up," Bella said flatly, then she smiled, "Bella, by the way, Cutie."

Rocket's ears pricked up for a moment in what could be almost considered a look of confusion. In the end, he chose to ignore her remarks, "These circuits are a mess," he said, poking into it further, "what broke it?"

Bella shrugged her other shoulder, "the ground kinda broke it when I landed on that stupid planet."

Rocket buried his head in electronics, "stoopid dirt."

"I am Groot."

Bella looked up at the tree, "Hi, Groot."

"Did I accidentally overdose on crack and Strychnine last night?"

"Hawkeye, this is hardly the weirdest thing you've seen."

"And that bothers me."

"You'll need a new arm, Princess."

"You can do that?"

"I am Groot."

"Thanks," Bella glanced at Rocket, "he said I'm the smartest guy he knows."

"And if the tree says it, it must be true," Hawkeye replied snidely.

"And I bet you never mention it."


	8. Chapter 8

An alert flashed on screen, and he pulled up some information on it. Since the failed attack on Earth by Thanos, the Nova Corps had investigated how a planet in the intergalactic Styx where a digital watch was still the height of civilization had thwarted the deadliest Titan in the universe. They had collected files on all the Avengers and those involved in the attack.

This Hawkeye was a founding member of the Avengers, and his claim to fame was that he had no powers other than amazing eyesight. Isabella of Detroit had no Nova file, instead mentioned in their file on Loki and his continuing involvement on Earth. He looked closer at that file.

According to the Nova Corps, Loki had been used by Thanos as a tool to obtain the Tesseract, which he had been told by Gamora. According to the file, Loki had been captured by Thanos on Cestar, a planet in the Cassiopeia system and used to attack Earth, but was easily thwarted by the Avengers, perhaps too easily.

After that, Nova had kept a close eye on Loki, and after breaking out of prison and impersonating the king of Asgard, in a fit of uncreative punishment, he was sent to Earth. Something must have happened on Earth because when a Jotun attacked, he saved the universe from destruction. Somehow Quill knew it had something to do with his wife, who sat stoically in the hold. Isabella of Detroit was labeled as an agent of SHEILD, the Strategic Homeland Intervention Logistics Division. There wasn't much more information about her than that. They didn't know her strengths, they didn't know her weaknesses and they certainly didn't know how she would react to Thanos.

However, this file was classified, and not all of this information had been made available to the public. For one, it wasn't made public knowledge that Thanos was behind the attack, and the six missing months of the prince's life, between his capture and the attack on Earth.


	9. Chapter 9

EARTH

"Loki."

He looked up, half expecting to see Bella standing over him with a deep set scowl over her face, but at Romanov's harsh stare, he turned away from her, "what do you want?"

"Soph let me up, or rather down," she said, leaning on the basement stairs for a moment before stepping down.

He tried to ignore her, downing another shot of bourbon, he had been drinking since Wednesday, and he wasn't drunk yet. Romanov wiped the dust off a saw horse and sat down next to him.

"When was the last time you ate?" she asked, "when was the last time you slept?"

"Does it matter?" he rubbed his free hand onto his forehead.

"You look awful," he knew that she was sizing him up, short, hunched, unshaven and messy with bags under his eyes. He held the bottle that he was drinking from against his pounding head, and ran his free hand through his dirty hair, pushing it out of the way so he could look up at Romanov.

"I feel awful," he groaned, "it's a set."

She didn't say a word. He expected her to tell him to shave and have a shower, and to put down Bella's bourbon, but she didn't. She just sat stoically, watching him drink, with that blank look on her face. She wore clean black jeans and a leather coat, done up to keep the rain out. Her hair was tied back from her face. Despite looking gaunt and pale, she still looked better than him, of course, to feel better, he would have to be dead three days.

"I can order you some food," she said.

"Go away, Romanov," he pounded another shot, "and take your pity with you."

Natasha Romanov sighed, "Is this what Sophie needs?" she asked him, "she's just lost her mother; the last thing she needs is to lose you too. Stop drowning yourself in bad booze and self pity, and focus on helping Sophie get through this."

Loki looked up at her. That was the Romanov that he knew.

"Listen," she continued, "Clint was my best friend, and at the moment, I want to die a little more than I want to live. But I keep going for his family. You should keep going for yours."

"You're determined to get me through this, aren't you?"

Romanov smiled, took the bourbon from his hand and put an arm around him, helping up, "why not?" she led him out of the basement, "I have some free time."


	10. Chapter 10

Latvaria, 7/7/14

The man was large, but easily snuck past the guards. Since the mountain had exploded, he had chartered a Kree merchant ship to take him as far as the Earth's troposphere and beam him down to the surface. From there, he had searched for the place that Heimdall had seen while observing Earth, the place where he saw Lady Isabella of Detroit and Hawkeye die.

He had found the place at long last, a cave cut into the side of the mountain, fenced off from the rest of the wilderness and surrounded by armed guards. The mountains were all in alignment from the sketch that Heimdall had drew from his vision, and this had to be the location of the blast as the soldiers were stoically guarding a hole in the ground with Heimdall's own vigilance. Fortunately he had learned some things from his brother, so these soldiers were easy enough to sneak past.

Dressed entirely in black leathers, he snuck further into the decayed inner sanctum of the compound as the walls crumbled around him, and he walked quickly but quietly, searching for clues in this dilapidated complex.

His mission here was to discover what had happened here, before meeting his brother in Washington DC and hoping for a warm reception. Heimdall had not seen what had happened inside this compound in the last few months, he had seen its construction over sixty years ago, and some parts shipments, but none on Asgard were adept in identifying human technology and their uses.

After ten minutes of walking, he pressed himself up against a cracked concrete wall and gripped the handle of his hammer tighter when he heard footsteps approaching him from the front. To achieve his goals, he must not be spotted, so he suppressed his urge to kill them as they walked past him, their automatic weapons slung across their shoulders, clad in black. They were talking; however, he could not identify, let alone understand the language.

A few more minutes and he reached a large circular room, filled with dust and pieces of concrete from the ceiling, held up by several hydraulic lifts. Something shiny winked up at him from the dust, and he bent over and picked it up, rubbing the dust off the object with his thumb.

It was a tag, the type that human warriors wore around their necks, on a chain of metal spheres. However on the chain, there was not only the tag, there was also a plain silver band. He read the script on the tag.

"Gunnery Sergeant Isabella Rodriguez," he hissed. She had been killed here.

* * *

On his way out of the compound, he made a stop at a tent that had been erected near the edge of the exclusion zone, and he made his way towards it, using the rocky outcrops as cover. He had to find out what had transpired here, but the way that the scientists were scurrying around with the soldiers, it seemed clear to him that they did not know what had transpired either.

He leaned down by the canvas flap in the bottom of the tent and listened for a moment for any voices. For a moment, he could hear nothing, but then someone's voice rung out.

"Captain, what do you have?" unlike many of the others here, he spoke clear English, and was clearly in charge. He lifted the canvas flap and looked through the hole. The man that had spoken was tall and dark, dressed in a military uniform and clearly in charge. The other man was a little shorter and had a broad face, a fighting man.

"It seems that Sinthea Shmitt crossed our country," the captain said simply, "she chose to destroy the device rather than let it become the property of the Latvarian people or fall into the hands of the Avengers."

"What of the two Avengers?"

"They were fried in the blast," the captain told his commanding officer, "The Avengers are pressuring to be allowed to investigate the crime scene, and Stark is threatening legal and government action against us."

"That does not matter," the commander told the captain, "the Avengers are our enemy. Doom protects Latvaria, and we will not be threatened by Hydra or the Avengers."

The captain snapped a quick salute at his commander, and as he did so, several papers fell onto the ground. He reached through the tent flap as the captain reached for the fallen paperwork as his commander left. He grabbed a sheet of paper from the file and pulled it back through the tent. He stuffed it into a pocket and slipped away into the night.


	11. Chapter 11

"Thank you for staying tonight," Loki said to Natasha as he stood on the balcony and glared back down onto the street.

"That's okay," Natasha said simply, "I could have gone back to headquarters, but then I would have had to watch as the Science Bro's try to figure out what that blip on the radar is," she handed him a cup of tea, "thought you might want this. Try not to hurt yourself."

He took it from her gingerly, "thanks."

"The last thing you need is to be alone with anything sharp," Natasha continued almost sarcastically, "just think about who'll clean up the body." Loki smiled sadly. The way she had said that, she sounded almost like Bella. He took a long sip of his tea.

"What do you know about the blip?" Loki asked Natasha almost suddenly.

"Only where it was an hour ago, why?"

"C- My boss wants me to figure out what it is, too," he told her.

"SHEILD?" Natasha asked, "Stark doesn't want anything getting out, especially to that team you work with."

"It passed Ioh a few days ago," he told her stiffly.

"It's coming up on Mars now."

Loki sipped his tea, deciding instead to think about the blip, "It's moving too slowly for the usual spacecraft," he told her, "unless whoever's driving knows you can detect the ship and that you can do nothing about its arrival."

"Why would 'the driver' drive so slowly?"

Loki looked at Natasha, "whoever it is, they want to intimidate the people of Earth, either that or their hyperdrive is sorely lacking."

"I have to call the Cap, set up a defensive perimeter."

"Where?" Loki looked up to the stars, "you have the whole of space, a technology level that would barely intimidate a primitive planet, and six men."

"We stopped you."

"I let you," Loki replied, "Somehow I do not think that this person cares much for sympathy."

Natasha rolled her eyes, "I still don't believe that," she said simply.

The doorbell rang after a moment, and they both looked at each other, "who could that be?"

* * *

He was dressed in full Asgardian garb now as opposed to the primitive dark skins he had been wearing, and he allowed himself to drop down onto the path below. The pavement cracked as he landed on his feet with a mighty snap. He began to walk towards the Washington townhouse with his hammer at his side.

He strode down the path towards the door, knocked casually and waited. A few moments later, the door cracked open and bright light and heat poured out of the building.

He was greeted by a pair of dark eyes, those which belonged to his brother, "you sure took your sweet time," he said bitterly.

"May I enter?"

"I would prefer if you did not," Loki replied snidely.

"We are brothers."

"That was hardly _my_ choice."

Thor took a deep breath, "I have come because Heimdall saw what transpired in Latvaria," he said.

He saw Loki flinch slightly, "you could have stopped it."

"I could not," Thor said simply.

The door opened fully, "liar," Loki sneered between his teeth, "Heimdall saw, _Odin_ must have seen too. You could have saved her, you didn't."

His large shoulders drooped, "Heimdall did not see until it was too late. Neither did Father. It seems that they are both losing their abilities."

"Why did you not come to me before?" Loki asked him, almost pathetically, "I needed you."

"Brother, I know you," he reached into a fold of his armor, "and I know that you want answers," the bundle was a few sheets of paper wrapped around something hard. He handed them to Loki.

"What is this?"

"Some answers, I hope."


End file.
